Books featuring characters with hearing loss

For children who are Deaf or experience hearing loss, it can be hard to find books that represent them and their experiences. Here is a collection of books featuring children with hearing loss -- some are main characters, while others are side or background characters who wear hearing aids, cochlear implants, or communicate using sign language.

Updated July 15, 2024
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Wellington City LibrariesChildren's team at Wellington City Libraries
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Can bears ski?
Antrobus, Raymond
Paper Book
Is Little Bear ignoring his friends when they say hi, or is something else going on? A discovery opens new doors in a tale that will delight kids with deafness and all children learning to navigate their world. Little Bear feels the world around him. He feels his bed...
El Deafo : superpowered edition
Bell, Cece
Paper Book
A superpowered special edition of Cece Bell's #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novel El Deafo with 40 pages of all-new material. Now an Apple+ animated TV series! A Newbery Honor Book What does it take for a student...
Pat-a-cake! : first book of nursery rhymes
Busby, Ailie
Paper Book
Spend time with your toddler exploring this delightful book of nursery rhymes. Here you'll find many well-known rhymes, with a sprinkling of modern variations, for every occasion in a young child's day. This book is bound to become a much-loved addition to every nursery bookcase.
Mara hears in style
Clemmons, Terri
Paper Book
Mara takes on the world with her flashy purple hearing aids and sassy, hot pink earmolds. Mara's first day at her new school is filled with ups and downs surrounding her hearing aids: her teacher doesn't remember to turn on her microphone, the lunchroom is too chaotic for lip...
Freddie and the fairy
Donaldson, Julia
Paper Book
A sweet and funny rhyming story that gently teaches about those who are hard of hearing. Now with a fresh cover look.Freddie wants nothing more than a pet, so when the fairy Bessie-Belle offers to grant his wishes, he knows just what to ask for. But Bessie-Belle can't hear very well and...
Can you feel the noise?
Foster, Stewart
Paper Book
A profound story about inner strength and perseverance in the face of a life-changing event, from the award-winning author of The Bubble Boy. Perfect for fans of R. J. Palacio's Wonder and Lisa Thompson's The Goldfish Boy. 'A wonderful book...
You don't know everything, Jilly P!
Gino, Alex
Paper Book
Alex Gino, the Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Melissa, is back with another sensitive tale based on increasingly relevant social justice issues. Jilly thinks she's figured out how life works. But when her sister, Emma, is born deaf, she realizes how much she still has to learn....
Secrets of Camp Whatever [1]
Grine, Chris
Paper Book
"Just the right amount of chills for tweens who enjoy supernatural suspense." -- KIRKUS Perfect for fans of Lumberjanes and Brain Camp, there's more than mosquitos at Camp Whatever and Willow will need to face truths about herself and...
Dachy's deaf
Hughes, Jack (Children's book illustrator)
Paper Book
Dachy wears a hearing aid. But sometimes, when his friends get too noisy, he likes to turn it off to get some peace and quiet. One day, when his hearing aid is off, Dachy falls asleep and ends up floating down the river towards a waterfall and a hungry crocodile. Can his friends rescue him in...
Come over to my house
Hull, Eliza
Paper Book
Come Over To My House is a delightful and celebratory Australian picture book that explores the home lives of children and parents who are Deaf or disabled. In this award-winning picture book, a cast of friendly characters invite friends over for a play...
Song for a whale
Kelly, Lynne
Paper Book
The award-winning and USA Today bestselling story of a deaf girl's connection to a whale whose song can't be heard by his species, and the journey she takes to help him. "Fascinating, brave, and tender...a triumph." --Katherine Applegate, Newbery Award-winning author of...
Five little speckled frogs
Lewis, Anthony.
Paper Book
Children are able to communicate by signing before they develop the skills necessary for speech. By teaching simple sign language to children from as young as eight months, we can help them to convey their emotions and their needs. When children begin to talk, having sign language to fall back on...
Show me a sign
LeZotte, Ann Clare
Paper Book
Don't miss the companion book, Set Me Free CRITICS ARE RAVING ABOUT SHOW ME A SIGN Winner of the 2021 Schneider Family Book Award * NPR Best Books of 2020 * Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2020 * School Library Journal Best Books of 2020 *...
The Tea Dragon Festival
O'Neill, Katie
Paper Book
"A lovely, gentle fantasy." -- KIRKUS Revisit the enchanting world of Tea Dragons with an all-new companion story to the two-time Eisner Award-winning graphic novel The Tea Dragon Society! Rinn has grown up with the Tea Dragons that inhabit their village, but...
Mighty Mila
Petruzziello, Katie
Paper Book
Celebrate the power of believing in yourself with this multi-award winning, heartwarming and hilarious tale of a spunky deaf girl who's determined to prove she can be a big kid! Mila may be a kid, but she can act pretty grown up...at least that's what...
Dancing hands : a story of friendship in Filipino sign language
Que, Joanna
Paper Book
A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book An Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Honor Winner Read the world to change the world! This artful picture book about friendship and sign language, originally published in the Philippines in concert with nonprofit Room to Read, is beautifully...
Baby loves the five senses : hearing!
Spiro, Ruth
Paper Book
From the duo behind the Baby Loves Science series comes a STEM first concepts spinoff perfect for little scientists discovering their own amazing powers! Accurate enough to satisfy an expert, yet simple enough for baby, this book explores the world of sound-what it is, how...
Listen : how Evelyn Glennie, a deaf girl, changed percussion
Stocker, Shannon
Paper Book
* Schneider Family Book Award Winner * A gorgeous and empowering picture book biography about Evelyn Glennie, a deaf woman, who became the first full-time solo percussionist in the world. "No. You can't," people said. But Evelyn knew she could. She...

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